Ex-D.C. Council member jailed 39 months for graft

Michael A. Brown, courtesy of Youth in Media and Education via YouTubeFormer District of Columbia Council member Michael A. Brown was sentenced to more than three years in prison Thursday for taking $55,000 in bribes in an undercover FBI sting.

In June last year, Brown admitted accepting cash from undercover FBI agents posing as corrupt government contractors seeking to do business with the city.

He was arrested in a hotel conference room last March after being caught on camera putting wads of cash wrapped in rubber bands into a gym bag and coffee mug, the Washington Post reported.

As a part of his plea deal, Brown cooperated in an investigation that led to a guilty plea by businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson to an illegal fundraising operation for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray. Thompson pleaded guilty plea in March.

Chief Judge Richard W. Roberts said Thursday that Brown had brought “dishonor on an honored family name,” noting that Brown’s late father, Ronald H. Brown Jr., was commerce secretary in the Clinton administration and a national Democratic Party leader.

“We cannot have our government run this way,” Roberts said before sentencing Brown.

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Julie DiMauro is the executive editor of FCPA Blog and can be reached here.

Julie DiMauro is a contributing editor of the FCPA Blog. She writes best practice articles and speaks about compliance and risk issues in the financial services sector as part of the Regulatory Intelligence group at Thomson Reuters in New York.

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